


The Samurai of Kozuke

by ASlick12



Series: The Samurai of Kozuke [1]
Category: Arashi (Band), Johnny's Entertainment
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-23
Updated: 2016-04-24
Packaged: 2018-03-19 06:55:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,164
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3600510
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ASlick12/pseuds/ASlick12
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ronin. He was labeled all things a samurai never wanted to be called.<br/>...<br/>South they travelled into the province of Aki where the young soldiers turned concubines and servants were met with the grace of a master of the name Sakurai.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Sakumoto Samurai AU that has been floating in my head for quite some time. Multiple chapters ^.^

Fandom:嵐   
Genre: Historical / Romance  
Pairing: Sakumoto some Ohmiya  
Title: Honor  
Chapter: Prologue

The greatest truth and downfall of humanity is the importance of a name, Jun thought. One could find honor and love in the names of samurai and their lords and yet when death brought about its heavy hand and left a man of greatness to be titled no more than a Ronin then the world would turn its back. That was the truth of humanity. The power of a samurai was reduced the moment he was left without a man to lead him and no matter what station one may possess lest the shogun name you ruler of the lands you are left with nothing. That was the truth behind the life of Matsumoto Jun.

He knew these truths as well as he knew his name and the name of his lord, Oguri-sama. He knew he would be forced into the same horrifying fate that many others in his position had faced by the same hand of the man poised above him prepared to strike. This man was not even the lord who had ordered the attack and as the red sky faded into black, Jun thought that the sky was a beautiful backdrop for death. Even if a ronin were to die, Jun thought, then a beautiful sky should greet their eyes. Every life deserves a beautiful death. His death would be beautiful the young warrior decided. His death would be remembered in the same glorious hues of reds and golds that his master's would be. He would die a happy warrior with life having been lived in the greatest honor; serving his master. Though love had not graced his life the honor of serving his master and closest friend was enough for him to die a happy man. 

Yet, the next evening when his eyes would open once more he would find death a sore friend who had rejected his hand and instead chose to tease him until he would break. Ronin. He was labeled all things a samurai never wanted to be called. He was left a wanderer unwelcome in his home and unwanted in the provinces surrounding it yet despite this name, this title of Ronin, Jin and Ryo still chose to follow after him. South they traveled, away from Kozuke, into land they did not know and soon their titles fled them and they were simply pretty faces that men fawned over for their wives and at times even themselves to watch and enjoy. South they traveled into the province of Aki where the young soldiers turned concubines and servants were met with the grace of a master of the name Sakurai.


	2. 1

Fandom:嵐

Genre: Historical / Romance

Pairing: Sakumoto

Title: The Samurai of Kozuke

Chapter: 1

 

There was something about the manor at Aki that had always felt like Sho's home. Their other homes were beautiful and full of life but Aki would forever be his home in his heart. His father had never spent more than a few weeks there meaning Sho was free to do as he pleased and his mother visited with his sister regularly while the generals and his fathers officials stayed in the main house. One day, when Sho would take over control of the province, this manor would be his place of rule not the stuffy one his father currently resided in.

Now more than ever Sho loved his home because a certain dark haired servant had been transferred to the manor upon his request as well as two others who were close to the dark haired servant. Matsushita had quickly become Sho's favored company in the long three months he had spent searching for a bride at his father's home. Though Sho had not found a bride, he had found something more prized. Sho found the love of his life in the dark haired servant who his father had given grace too and allowed him and his two companions to work in their house. Jun was a tender man once you surpassed the stoic outer walls he kept close to his chest. He was incredibly caring and sweet when his guard was down. Jun had a sense of humor that Sho understood and his squeal like laughter was even nice to Sho's ear.

His father was still intent on Sho marrying but Sho had been able to sway the man enough to allow Sho to keep Jun as a lover so long as Sho had a child with the woman his father chose for him to marry and the young heir was content enough with that given that Jun would actually allow him to go to that stage. The arrangement was not ideal and Sho could have gone his entire life without marrying if it meant being able to stay alongside Jun. It was the best the young heir could do and hopefully the woman would be resigned to living a life without a proper husband because Sho had no desire to be anything more than a friend to the woman and perhaps the father to their child. He would have much rather have said child and raise it alongside Jun.

“Should you not be asleep, Sho-kun?”

The deep baritone does not surprise him anymore as Jun practically appears out of thin air at the shoji leading into his room. Jun had been a mystery since Sho first laid eye on him nearly a year ago in his father's manor. He was tall but far too thin and quite reserved. He did his jobs with beauty, grace, and diligence. Jun moved in a powerful but dignified way that rarely kept Sho's eyes off of him during that time. Once up close Sho realizes that the frosty exterior was simply an act of self preservation and Jun was actually a very kind and caring person naturally. He would give you the clothing off his back in the middle of the snow storm if you were someone special to him. When they finally made love for the first time the night before Sho's departure he memories every mole on the younger man's skin not just the few on and around his lips that captivated him every second they were in sight. Jun was always a welcomed, albeit mysterious, distraction.

“The same could be said for you Maachan.”

The younger man settles onto the floor with ease and slide the shoji closed to give them the privacy he desired. Sometimes the screens would be left open to enjoy the warmth of the summer air and others Jun would close it to enjoy more private moments together. Either way many knew not to interrupt the pair when they were together lest they face the irritation of the young master and the fury of his lover.

“Who would come to ensure you did not fall asleep at your desk if I did not visit you?” Sho glances up at the younger man and proceeds to rolls his eyes at the telltale quirk to his brow. Jun was many things and sarcastic was among them. He enjoyed teasing others and toying with them while asking a million redundant and rhetorical questions. Jun also worried incessantly and covered that using those questions and a brave facade. “Now will you please stop working and explain to me why you are not in my chambers lavishing me with attention?”

Sho is stunned for a minute by his lover's brash question and then he cannot help but smile as the younger man's laughter washes away the seriousness. “I am worried about the impending marriage.” Jun's face seems to fall and that was something Sho certainly did not want. So he climbs across the floor and lies out across his lover like a cat preening for attention. Jun grants him that with a calming hand to his hair. “I sincerely do not want to destroy a possible friendship with the mother of my children but I intend to make it clear that she will be nothing more than that as you are the one who holds my heart.”

The vibrant blush that blossoms across Jun's face forces the young master's heart to race just as it had the first time he saw it. “I doubt she will be happy considering she intends to marry you and love you as a wife should. She will be furious when she wishes to hear your concerns and you direct them to me. Or when she desires your presence in he chambers at night and you are gracing mine. She will certainly hate the station I am holding within this house as I am no more than a commoner to her eyes.” Sho closes his eyes unhappily and presses a lingering kiss to Jun's wrist when it passes by his face. Jun for the lost part remained staring at the wall. Sho had noticed in their time together that such an action was Jun's way of cutting himself off from the events surrounding him as well as his own feelings.

“Jun.”

Sho could only glare pointedly at the younger man as he refused to meet Sho's lingering gaze. Jun was a stubborn man, Sho knew that from the very beginning, but at times his stubborn will was terribly annoying. Sho is surprised when the young man picks up his hand and presses a lingering kiss to the warm skin there. “Please.” Jun does not blush like he usually does and his eyes are unreadable but Sho had never been able to deny even the littlest things he was desiring. So he ignored the heavy weight in his stomach and slithers up the mans body for an awaited kiss.

 

~~嵐~~

 

Sho wanted nothing more than to storm to Aki and demand attention from his young lover who had ignored his entire existence for nearly a week already. He wanted to slam the other man to the floor and conquer him in the same way he had for months before. He wanted to refuse the wedding end it all and return to his home, his lover, and his freedoms without a woman following along after him. He knew, though, that he had no choice but to do as he was bid and marry the woman from a small town in Aki to fulfill his duty as the heir. So he was wed to the woman, she was lovely surely, but she was no Jun. She lacked his astounding and other worldly beauty. She would sire suitable children and that was all the Sakurai heir was worried about other than putting his stubborn lover in his place when he returned to Aki. Jun would understand what it meant to ignore Sho's beckoning and defy his will.

As for his new wife, Sho could already tell she and Jun would not get along no matter how likable she was to him. Apparently, Kitagawa Keiko was not aware that he had no desire to love her once more after the night they would consummate their marriage lest she be unable to bear him a child after one night. She hung about him in a way that Jun would never do and her eyes never stray far from him when he desire peace and comfort or whatever little he could find in his father's home. Her father was still ever present in the home so he was,rightfully, playing the perfect act of husband but his distress was evident to his younger siblings as he retreated each night as quickly as possible.

For two months they remained with Sho's father intent to be graced with a child and he visited her several times until she began showing the symptoms of pregnancy. When the priestess announced her with child Sho began his packing to return to Aki despite his wife being unable to leave yet. He had several problems to deal with before she returned.

 

~~嵐~~

 

Matsushita Jun was not surprised to have his door pushed aside by his master when the older man finally returned home. Jun had expected his anger after his actions the weeks before the wedding. So with a silent nod he told his two visitors to leave them be and Jin and Ryo scurried out of the room closing the shoji screen behind them. Sho was surprised and infuriated that his young lover would dare to meet his gave head on ad if he had done no wrong. “Why had you ignored me? Refused my beckons? Defied my will by allowing other to grace your chambers?” Jun's eyebrows raise at the last question and he snorts before clearing away their tea cups and plates.

“Jin and Ryo are of course not included in that ruling.”

Jun did not need to tell Sho that he knew that considering he himself had said it. “Answer me.” Jun knew Sho was furious and overly irritated after a prolonged stay with his father which made for an easily upset master. Th idea of being the reason behind his master's unhappiness nearly forced Jun to his knees. The young man had no choice but to concede to his master's demand. He could not deny a direct order.

“Where I am from it is believed that a man impure the week before his marriage will bear no healthy children.” Jun looks away once more growling to himself for being so week to Sho's demands however innocent they may be. Instinct enough was often powerful. Yet, oddly Sho's anger seems to melt away from his tense frame as his shoulders straight and loosen at Jun's confession.

“So you mean-”

“Hai.”

 

~~嵐~~

Kitagawa Keiko arrived in Aki three days after that night and was greeted, much to her surprise, not by her soon to be husband but by his most favored servant and lover. “Ohayo Kitagawa-san, I am Matsushita Jun and I will be escorting you to your chambers.” The young woman nods but glares fiercely as the young man does not even move to bow to her. Instead he turns and begins to walk back toward the manor much to the other young servants chagrin. Jun knew very well, Jin and Ryo thought, how to show someone who really belonged to the master of the manor. He was dressed impeccably well for a mere servant showing everyone just who he was compared to her. His features were open and respectful but the little things he reserved just for her were enough.

“Just who do you think you are not showing the proper respect to me?!” Her body shook as she glared upon him. “I am the new lady of your house boy?!”

The guards who had escorted her cringe as the young servant pauses and barely turns his neck to look at her. They knew the man's wrath all too well when he was unhappy about his lovers protection or health. They had been on the receiving end of that protective wrath far too many times to ever speak to him in such a way. “What I am is of no concern to you woman. All you must know is I belong to Sakurai-sama and no other so I bend to no will but that of Sakurai-sama.” The woman seems to process these words and glares heated at the younger man before glancing to the guards for help. With a dark stare from Jun them turn their faces in fear of disobeying the young man whom their master had specifically chosen as his lover.

Upon seeing this restrained power the woman watches as the man sheds his destructive aura with the each of a murderer and begins walking once more. Sakurai Keiko would make no mistake after this day. Matsushita Jun was the snake that lied beneath the facade of a flower. Though small in stature the snake would kill a lioness if provoked. It did not sit well with the young heiress to have such a man in her new home having much more control in it than she.

 


	3. 2

Fandom: 嵐

Genre: Historical / Romance

Pairing: Sakumoto

Title: The Samurai of Kozuke  
Chapter: 2

           

            Jun sat on the cold stone bench that was slowly warming from the afternoon sun clutching the glass that had once held his steaming cup of tea. The taste was not as distinct as he remembers it to be but perhaps he had not made it as perfectly as his mother and sister used to as a child. The aroma was the same but the way it fell over his tongue was certainly not. Maybe his memories were fuzzy or it was the longing to see his sibling once more that made the tea taste bitterer than it usually would. The morning air was crisp reminding him of the times he would lean against the shoji stricken with hay fever each year desperate to be out playing in the fields. He remembers how his mother would sit alongside him at times wiping the trickles of blood that would fall from his nose or give him teas and herbal remedies from her books to help with the itching and clogging of his throat.

            The pollen in the south better agreed with his allergies but his hay fever still peaked through his senses reminding him that even now he was not untouchable. The breeze of this season, even in the south, reminds him of the small manor in the mountains that had been his childhood home. It still brings his mind back to the day his mother drug him and his sister from their futons and out the back passages while their manor burned to the ground.

            This manor was not that one but even this one had its issues. The wife was growing ever more pregnant sure signs of a healthy child and her husband ever protective. He had graced his lover’s chambers regularly but at times his stay would last only as long as the deed he desired. The woman was important; Jun could see that and understand it for what it was. His emotions did not want to understand that. He was as green eyed as the woman could be when she knew the master spent the night in his chambers and not hers.

            Yet she tried to speak with him. Joined him in silence when he desired only to be left to his own thoughts in a time that granted him no peace from his past. The spring, so beautiful and so liked for that beauty, Jun hated. The most beautiful season; he agreed with them all but it still made him so very sad. Kozuke burned in the spring when the grounds were washed in pink snow that smelled like heaven when the trees rained. The mountains burned when the fields smelled of spring and danced with her breeze. His sister…

            “Do you like the spring?” He did not want to answer her. He did not have the energy to play this game with her today. Maybe if he were not so lethargic he would see the sickness in his gaze or the deathly pallor that had taken to her ashen skin. Still he did not want to entertain her. “The tree this time or year are so beautiful they make the lands look so love-”

            “No. I hate the spring.”

            Jun doesn’t bother to glance back at the woman as he retrieves his cup and suppresses a cough into his sleeve.  He takes a few steps but stops when he hears the sound of a fan dropping to the ground. The woman sways before dropping heavily onto the edge of the stone bench. Her skin was pale but Jun could see the shallow traces of darkened veins that swirled up her neck like spindles. He had seen such skin only once before when he was still too little to understand it.

            “Keiko-sama!” A guard pulls her from his arms as he tries to read over her features. He didn’t know what those veins meant only that they were bad only that the books spoke nothing of them even in the most restricted parts of the library. An old and nasty thing, his teachers had said, nothing for a boy to be asking of. “Someone go and get Sakurai-sama. Matsushida-sama please let us take her to the healer.”

            Jun did as they asked but only because he had to release her when his sleeve was needed to hide the drop of blood rolling down to the bow of his lips. “Please, I leave her in your care. Please excuse me, I will go find Sakurai-sama.” Jun bows his head before rushing away to finish somewhere to wash out the sleeve of the pale yukata he was wearing. Sho was still sleeping in his chambers when he returned but the man slept like the dead so Jun took his chances at changing and washing out the sleeve that was now stained crimson.

            Jun hated the color. It reminded him of all the blood that stained Oguri manor in the north the morning he awoke. How his sister’s locks were drenched in that same color as she walked into the tree line with just one glance back at him. She knew he was lying there and she knew that the feelings that crawled along his skin were her doing but she did not stay; the color reminds him of being alone. “Jun? What are you doing?”

            “Y-You must go. The lady is sick; she collapsed. You must go to her side immediately.”

            Sho dresses in a rush leaving the young servant despite the way his hands shook as he washed out the garment. Eventually the red color of blood receded and yet he was still left wandering through the path as his throat began feeling the same itch that had drawn him to the gardens earlier that morning.

 

~~嵐~~

 

            “What do you mean you don’t know what is wrong with her! You’re the best healer in Aki and I’m paying you a decent amount for your troubles; you should know what is wrong with my wife!” Jun slides through the shoji and between his raving lover and the frightened older woman to drop more than enough gold coins into her hands. Jun smiles as brightly as he can in her direction despite feeling quite exhausted today.

            “Forgive the master you are free to go. Thank you for all that you have done for us here.”

            The elderly woman reaches into her bag and take a small vile out of it to press into his palm. “For your troubles servant.” The woman bows and disappears as Jun tucks the vile into his sleeve. Sho was silent during this exchange and Jun contemplates if he should suggest what he knows or not. He, himself, knew very little on what was plaguing his lover’s wife but he knew that one woman in the south knew nearly as much as his mother regarding dark things little boys should not bother themselves with.

            “You are not well?”

            “I may know a woman who can help us; you will be ridiculed but-”

            “Find her.”

            Jun doesn’t say another word but as he’s leaving he glances just once more down at the pregnant woman that he had wished for so long never existed before their first meeting. No person deserved to live with such pain even those that tried to worm their way between loves because the world saw love between one man and another as something that was an abomination to nature. The innocent child inside the woman did not deserve such weakness or such pain coming into this world as well. 

 

~~嵐~~

 

            Sho chewed anxiously at his bottom lip as the healer stepped out of his wife’s chambers. The pregnancy was going south; the vessel to ill for the child to properly grow someone had told him. The healer’s face look grim. The lines and planes of the woman’s face were worn from age and her eyes showed knowledge of lifetimes that Sho would never see by her age. This woman could only press a bead into his hands. Black. Black meant death, uncertain death but death none the same. Another grey bead fell into his palm signifying uncertainty. The baby would barely live or die at birth. “You know the beads boy?” This was the eighth healer Sho had searched for; one recommended by his lover. The woman was eccentric and some teased Sho telling him she could do nothing. “The woman carries the darkness. It is not rare but not easily found in the body. She will die and the babe as well if the darkness carries to his bones.”

            “The child is a boy?” Sho is so excited that he does not hear the soft footsteps distancing someone from him. He was having a son but the rate of his son’s life expectancy was grim. His wife would die and the child she bore him would likely die as well. This woman could tell him more with some beads than all the rest could with all their knowledge. “How?”

            The woman smiles grimly at him, something he may never understand why made him think of the way his lover smiled at something particularly unpleasant but truthfully necessary to admit. “The woman dies. The spots of webbed veins can tell someone who has seen the disease as much as they need to know. The woman will die. The child in an uncertainly boy. Some carry the disease some are not touched by it while in the womb. One cannot tell until the day of birth comes.” Sho glances down at his wife swollen with his heir the only thing he had truly needed her for and yet she was a friend. A dear friend that cared so dearly for their child inside of her. She never grew irritated with his fussing and accepted his position in her life without much hassle. “I will leave you now.”

            Jun is sitting against the shoji near the front of the manor watching the way the air rustled the leaves the trees that dotted the outer walls when she found him. “She will die won’t she?” Jun does not look up because he knew. He had seen the girl in their village slowly creep toward death. His mother had tried with all of her might to save the girl but it was too late for many of the remedies and her ties to the master too weak. 

            “Aye boy.”

            “I see.”

            Silence falls around them for a few moments but Jun knew the woman. He knew her mind saw more than anyone else could comprehend. Lifetimes of knowledge could do that. “The servant loves the master.” Another pause. “And it would appear the master loves the servant as well.”

            “Yes.”

            Jun doesn’t know why he’s even answering her when she already knows the answers for himself. Perhaps it is a habit he had grown into after being around his master for so long. “There is but one way to save the woman now. The faceless god knows but one way at this stage. This servant cannot but the servant of the master can save the woman.” Jun does finally look at her questioning exactly what it was that she wanted from him. He knew very little of what she was talking about. He was just a boy; boys don’t meddle in dark things. “This servant cannot tell you how to fix it only the true servant of the faceless god cannot teach the servant of the master how to help the woman.”

            “Where-”

            “The forests of the faceless of course or have you forgotten so much?”        

            “Leave.”

            “Very well; watch the woman die and her babe as well.”

           

~~嵐~~

 

            Jun was determined to never return to the forests of the faceless. Most never did after their first venture only a few remained those sworn entirely to the faceless; his mother included. When their manor burned and their family split he had tried to find her once. She resided in the forests of the faceless; a place he vowed never to venture after his mother forced him and his sister into the vines that begun at the base of the mountain they had called home. She had left them for month with a formless voice to guide them and no other ways to sustain themselves. His sister was better than him at first. She knew how to cook and forage and he knew too little. Coddled by the nurses that told him little boys didn’t play n dangerous places. He knew the herbs better than she did. He knew mixing and matching and he knew how to be silent. He knew how to move without someone knowing you were there. So they shared and they learned alone in those tree with no one else but themselves. Together they grew tall and quick and learned all the ways of the faceless god until the day the forests opened to them. When they left they were the same as the day they were brought into the forests.

            “Jun…are you alright?”

            The young man turns to his lover who is sitting up in the futon now having slept for the first time in days in an actual bed and not on the floor by his wife’s side. If Jun did not love the man so much it would not bother him to see Sho so distraught by the death of his wife. “You don’t want to lose her. She is important to you.” Jun does not need to turn around to know that Sho is looking at him with hundreds of apologies in his eyes. “Do you want her to live? Along with the child?”

            “I do.”

            “Very well.”

            Jun doesn’t say much else as he dresses himself in the clothing he had been wearing before Sho decided he wanted to partake. If he wanted his wife Jun would give him the woman. A servant cannot disobey the master. His master deemed her life important and so she will live. So, despite Sho’s confused protests. Jun gathers only a small bag out of the chest he swore never to open after arriving in Aki and leaves the room of his master.

            “Jun where are you going.”

            Sho is following after him dressed in only his hakama and had it been any other time and having been told any other order Jun would have teased him for how ridiculous he looked right now but today was different. “You want the woman so I will ensure she lives.” Sho stops when Jun turns on him a dangerous look in his eyes. Jun had never been so cross with him before and it stunned Sho for a moment until reality set in with Jun’s next words. “Be warned what you desire always has consequences master. I will return by sun down she will not die before then so do not worry.”

           


End file.
